ABSTRACT
Jurgen Habermas was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1929. He is widely recognized as one of the world's leading intellectuals. At the heart of Habermas's project is to understand the social conditions that unite reason with resistance. Habermas begins The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere by explaining that the cultural circumstances of the 18th century led to civic rights guaranteeing freedom of association and expression. Habermas develops his understanding of social systems by studying structural functionalism, particularly the work of the sociologist Talcott Parsons. When Habermas uses the word "decouple", it is meant to refer to the breakdown of the dialectical tension between the lifeworld and the social system. Habermas argues that as the domain of the lifeworld shrinks and instrumental action begins to dominate, social pathologies emerge. There are four related categories of these pathologies. Habermas concludes The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere with the hope that the idea of an authentic public sphere might re-emerge.
